No to cuts! No to discrimination!
Greg Randall, Socialist Party LGBT group
Members of the Socialist Party’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) group and London party members took anti-cuts campaigning to Pride London on 2 July.
Pride started off as a political demonstration for LGBT liberation, but it’s now a commercialised event with corporate sponsors and contingents there to advertise products. Despite this, there are always people there who want to protest against homophobia and discrimination.
We leafleted and spoke to people to explain how the cuts will have a particularly severe effect on LGBT people. Economic crisis also leads to scapegoating – hate crimes against LGBT people increased by 21% in 2010/11.
Our material was well received, and we sold 40 copies of the Socialist before joining the march alongside trade union contingents and anti-cuts groups such as Queer Resistance and Queers Against the Cuts.
As the fight against cuts develops we’ll be making sure that the message goes out into the LGBT communities to build a political movement that will cut across all the commercial dross infecting Pride. We’ll be putting forward socialist ideas against capitalist prejudice and big business exploitation, and for LGBT liberation.
